


Cold

by StardustAndAsh



Series: The Galaxy in Her Eyes [1]
Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Car Accidents, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Nomad, Pre-Relationship, Slow Burn, voeld
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-05
Updated: 2017-04-05
Packaged: 2018-10-15 03:21:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10549214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StardustAndAsh/pseuds/StardustAndAsh
Summary: "Don't crash the car. Got it."Those were Ryder's words when she got the NOMAD on Voeld. How soon she would mess that one up.





	

The storm hadn’t been that bad when they left the Angaran base. Sure, it had been snowing, but not this badly. Fay couldn’t see ten feet in front of the NOMAD and every gust of wind rocked the heavy vehicle. Even with the all-terrain mode engaged the tires slipped and skidded in the snow, making Peebee gasp with every slide. The cabin was tense; silence had reigned for the last twenty minutes, and Fay could see Peebee’s white-knuckled grip on her seat and Jaal’s deepening frown out of the corner of her eye.

“Can’t we turn back?” Peebee begged after they hit a rock under all the snow and the NOMAD lurched violently.

“No can do, SAM’s readout is showing that we’re way closer to where were going than the base,” said Fay. “Besides, adventure, right?”

“If this is what humans consider an adventure you must be a brave species indeed,” said Jaal.

“You think this is brave? I should get someone to forward you the story of Commander Shepard. Now there was a brave woman,” said Fay with a grin.

Jaal nodded and returned to staring out the window.

Outside the sun was setting. Blue shadows swallowed what little visibility they had left until all Fay could see was the bright reflection of the NOMAD’s headlights in the thick flakes of falling snow. The wheel kept threatening to jerk its way out of her hands, even going at a snail’s pace. Everything her father had ever taught her and Scott about driving in the snow was running through Fay’s mind at light speed. At least Scott wasn’t here for this. He was the biggest baby when it came to the cold. Anything less than ten degrees Celsius was enough for Scott to cocoon himself in every blanket their house had to offer as close to a heater one could get without setting themselves on fire.  Not that a coma was any better, but Fay was feeling a lot better about leaving her brother on the Hyperion after SAM helped him communicate.

The NOMAD groaned and whined and thudded its way through the building snowdrifts. The holomap on the dash pinged quietly as they got closer to their destination, but there was something wrong. Fay glanced down to check it, then did a double take as her brain caught up.

The elevation was all wrong.

There wasn’t anything this high this far out from the mountain to their right. Unless the NOMAD’s gps system was off by a few metres.

Then Fay had an idea. An awful idea. More of an awful hypothesis really, but who’s going to argue about the nuances of the English language after realizing their very heavy car is currently on an ice sheet sticking out the side of a mountain.

“Ryder, the terrain is unstable. I recommend returning to solid ground immediately,” said SAM in its infuriatingly calm voice.

As if on cue there was an ear-splitting crack and groan.

“Ryder, what was that?” asked Peebee.

Fay had no time to respond as she engaged in getting the thrusters to work. The with the all-terrain drive mode engaged the boosters did practically nothing to speed the NOMAD forward. The wheels locked and they slid to the left as the ice under them groaned again and shifted.

“Aw hell,” said Fay.

The ice broke away from the mountain, taking the NOMAD and its passengers with it. Jaal let out a long string of curses in his own language so impressive Fay made a mental note to get him to teach her. If they survived. She had enough time to make a mental note while falling and that didn’t bode well for them. Her hands wrapped around the steering wheel in an unbreakable grip, unable to move her arm to press the emergency beacon. Fay really hoped SAM would do it automatically. At least Cora would finally stop sulking about not being Pathfinder. She’d probably do a way better job too.

They hit the ground with a screech of twisting metal and the tinkle of shattering glass. Fay was wrenched out of her seat slammed against something hard with the force of impact.

The next thing she was aware of was cold. It seeped through every tiny crack in her armour and into her bones. Alarms blared in her ears, but Fay wasn’t sure if it was her helmet or something else. Judging by the cold and the uncomfortable feeling in her stomach it was probably her helmet telling her she was dying, but hey she’d already done that once since arriving in Andromeda, it wasn’t too terribly concerning.

It probably should have been concerning, but that’s shock for you.

“-she dead?”

“I’m getting a reading of life signs. You have a doctor on your ship?”

“Yeah.”

“Then she needs to get to the ship at once.”

“Way to state the obvious. For now all we can do is keep her warm and try and stop the bleeding.”

There was an uncomfortable pressure on Fay’s stomach and she moaned, trying to push it away.

“Stop,” she groaned.

“Ryder? You there?” Peebee’s voice was anxious and close.

Fay blinked her eyes open. For a few seconds all she could see was blue. A very pretty shade of blue, but her mind kept telling her all she should be able to see was white. Snow? It would explain the cold. SAM’s voice echoed inside her mind far too loudly.

“Pathfinder, your life support systems are failing and you have sustained multiple injuries. I have relayed our position to the Tempest but it will take some time for them to reach us.”

Well, shit.

The alarms faded into the background as Fay grey more aware of her surroundings. Peebee was hovering over her, hands twitching and eyes darting. Behind her the windshield of the NOMAD was shattered and thick flakes of snow were blowing past.

“Anybody find the spare blankets? It got a little colder while I was taking a nap,” said Fay, stuttering over words as her lungs seemed unable to function properly.

“You already have my _rofjinn_ , what could be warmer?” asked Jaal.

He appeared in Fay’s field of vision as he leaned towards her. His arms were out in front of him oddly. Fay followed them down to find his hands pressing on her stomach –oh that was quite a bit of blood. Jaal’s big hands shone with the slick wetness of it.

 In morbid fascination she stared and stared. She’d seen blood before; her blood and others. Alien blood. Bodies on the battlefield. But this felt different. Distant. Calmer. It took her a moment to realize the feeling as acceptance. It wasn’t like her death would matter much. Hell, she’d already died once right. Borrowed time and all that jazz. Cora would be delighted to finally inherit the Pathfinder position.

“Scott?” Fay asked. Her brother had felt like her only family for most of their lives. She wanted her brother. Then she remembered. Scott was in a coma on the Hyperion. Scott was going to wake up all alone in a new galaxy when she had promised they would explore it together.

“He’s on the Hyperion, remember?” Peebee asked. “Ok come on, let me take a look at those pretty eyes of yours.”

“Trying to flirt with me?”

“You live through this Ryder and you might get to find out.”

Fay just grinned at her. Hopefully it wasn’t too morbid looking. God what if she was remembered for flirting with blood on her teeth? Wouldn’t that be embarrassing. Pathfinder for a few weeks then bam died while flirting badly and covered in blood. At least she’d get to keep her title of family disappointment forever.

She shivered, pain rocketing down her nerves. It was getting harder and harder to focus on anything besides the snow outside the shattered windows of the NOMAD. Peebee’s eyes kept dancing between her omnitool, Jaal’s blood covered hands, and Fay’s face. A cut across Peebee’s forehead dripped down the side of her face but the Asari either didn’t notice or did not care. Would it be weird to want it to scar? Scars were hot. Not that Peebee needed to be any more distracting. She was smart and funny and so goddamn energetic spending five minutes with her was like chugging an energy drink. But she was also kind. And she had stayed on the Tempest a lot longer than anyone thought. Gil and Suvi had been running the betting pool on that one. But there was something about Peebee that she trusted.

“Hey,” said Fay.

“Tempest’ll be here in five,” was Peebee’s response, but she locked eyes with Fay and settled a bit.

“Can you, or would you, maybe check on Scott from time to time for me?”

“What are you talking about Ryder?”

Jaal’s hands pressed down harder on Fay’s stomach and her vision went grey.

“He’s gonna be lonely if he wakes up all alone,” she managed to gasp out. Did her voice get tinny or was she going to pass out? She felt like she did right before she died the first time.

“He’s not going to be alone. You’re going to be there too. How the fuck is a ship this slow in atmo?”

“Perhaps it is the storm?” answered Jaal.

“Life support offline,” said SAM in her mind.

That was probably very not good, but Fay couldn’t bring herself to care. Instead she let her eyes slip closed and drifted once more into darkness.

Waking up again hadn’t really been on Fay’s to-do list. She was thinking something more along the lines of hugging her mom and getting to know her dad. Normal after-death plans she supposed.

So the whole bright-light-loud-medbay thing came as a bit of a surprise. And she felt as if she should complain about waking up so uncomfortably. Pain washed through her in slow pulses. What good was being the Pathfinder if they couldn’t even get the good drugs. Resigning herself to being awake Fay glanced around.

Doctor T’Perro was sitting at a desk against the far wall with a data pad in front of her. A crease was growing between her eyes as she frowned at whatever information the data pad contained. Fay was just glad her dead Kett lab rat was nowhere to be seen. It was definitely a lot more optimistic to wake up without a dead body next to you.

On her other side, sleeping in one of the most uncomfortable chairs on the whole ship, was Peebee. She was asleep, mouth wide open and cheek squished onto the hand propping her head up, but she was there. A small bandage covered the cut on her forehead and stood out in stark contrast against Peebee’s blue skin.

“Hello Ryder,” said Lexi, startling Fay.

“Morning Lexi, How long have I been napping?”

“Afternoon, and only a day and a half. At first I thought we were going to have to sprint for the Nexus to keep you with us, but you pulled through the worst of it. You’re not going to be able to move around much so we’re still going to take a couple of days to regroup at the Nexus before heading back out to the stars. “

“I’ll be glad to get some sleep for once,” said Ryder as she glanced at Peebee. “How long has she been sitting there?”

“She’s been there ever since I let her in after working on you,” said Lexi as she saw Fay’s gaze.

As if in possession of some sort of sixth sense, Peebee gave a snort and startled awake. The first thing she saw was Fay awake and looking over at her.

“Hey, look who’s not dead.”

“Another miracle from the Ryder family,” said Fay.

“Nothing about your dashing rescuers?”

“Right, I’ll have to thank Jaal when I see him.”

Fay grinned at Peebee in jest, but the Asari looked disappointed. Ok so that joke was a bad move.

“Thanks for not letting me die on an oversized snowball of a planet,” said Fay with sincerity.

Peebee shrugged and stood, making for the door to the medbay. Fay couldn’t see her face but she thought just maybe Peebe was blushing.

“Well, your brother’s not the only one who would be lonely if you were gone.”

It was Fay’s turn to blush as Peebee fled the medbay. It deepened when Lexi reminded Fay of her presence by starting to check her injuries. Andromeda was certainly shaping up to be the adventure her father promised.

**Author's Note:**

> i have in no way even come close to finishing the game yet, i just finished the voeld mission yesterday. but here i am writing fic anyway.


End file.
